“Could you please load up my reusable grocery bags? Heavy bags are fine.”  These are the direction I often give the bagger at my local grocery store. Today, I was pleasantly surprised when I was handed my bag with a smile. I thanked the young woman, and walked away thinking, “ I hope that young …
Category Archives: Executive Function
Severe Tantrums 101: Targeting Skills
Severe tantrums in kids can be the result of a variety of reasons from lack of bonding to inadequate communication often seen in kids with poor communication skills like those with many forms of autism or severe langauge disabilities. There are a number of resources to work from and if your child has autism or …
Targeting skills
A chair comes flying down the stairs. No,” screams a child from the top, another tantrum. Â
Speech therapy and motherhood
As a speech therapist, becoming a mom has been the second greatest learning experience of my career. Motherhood helped me understand, the far reaching impact of poor verbal expression and the role of speech therapy. It’s not just about whether you acquire vocabulary, but about learning to use language in a flexible way in order …
Tutoring vs speech language therapy
Recently I worked with client on the autism spectrum who received A-and B’s on his papers at his traditional high school.  In his papers his vocabulary was redundant, he had little sentence variety, and at times the content of his papers mirrored, the model provided so closely that it had little original thought. This student …
What do clients need to bring to speech language therapy in order to have the greatest success
What do clients need to bring to speech language therapy in order to have the greatest success? They need to be able to build a trusting relationship, in addition to having their own internal motivation. Next they need to be able to be self reflective or taught to be self reflective, in order to explore …
Lagging skills: So what’s a mom/ Speech Pathologist to do?
During my observations I noticed once my daughter began to scream she was no longer able to think. Unexpected transitions set her off, and even though she has a very good vocabulary during times of anger she used few words. Rewards, time out, punishments hugs, natural consequences didn’t work. Anticipating situations that caused the rages …
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Predicting, planning, and organizing: Why can’t I do It?
Problems with time management is one element of executive function, other elements include predicting, organizing, and planning. We all occasionally lose our keys. I know I do, but I once had a client that was constantly late to every appointment because they could not find their keys or pocketbook. For most of us a few …
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Executive functioning: What is it?
Executive functioning is a buzz word in the learning disability community that often seems mysterious. I have first hand experience with executive functioning problems. My daughter wakes up for school and takes at least 40 minutes if not more to get dressed and brush her teeth in the morning. Unfortunately the bus leaves at the …
Executive functioning: What’s that have to do with a language disorder?
After working with students for over 13 years the one thing that continues to amaze me is the fact that so often language remediation of a language disorder has as much to do with language as it does with executive functioning including self-regulation. Here’s a site that defines and looks at executive functioning in children. …
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